Good morning, everybody. All right, I need, I need to
know how many of you are new since Christmas time that are
here today. A couple of you are all right.
Cool. Hey, my name is Steve Shearer
and I am just blessed to be here today.
I was the original pastor of North Life.
The church began 16 years ago and I'm really blessed and happy
to be here today. How many of you have your Bibles
with you? You know, in the church I'm at
now, every Sunday we ask how many of your Bibles and we have
around 1500 people a Sunday at 10.
We have three services and, and the place is packed.
And we, we do it so much. We give away Bibles that you see
about 1500 Bibles lifted up every Sunday.
And it's great to have the written word, Amen.
I have a Bible app. I have two of them on my phone,
but it's just great to, to have a Bible.
So if you have your Bibles today, I want you to turn with
me to Ephesians chapter 2. And we're going to start in
verse 19 in just a minute. So if if you open your Bibles,
turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and we're going to begin in verse
19. Now when I do it down at the
church I pastor and there's so many Bibles, you can hear all
the pages open up. It's pretty fun.
I don't want to hear our landing pages open up here.
I'm just having fun with you. Just so you know a little bit, I
moved down four years ago. I, Cheryl, and I serve at my son
Ross's church. My oldest son, Chris, lives here
in Gaylord. It's his birthday today.
So 44 years ago, Cheryl gave birth to our son Chris.
And a lot of you know him. He's a DJ and does a lot of
music and does the worship out in Johannesburg church.
And then. But Ross is the elite pastor of
our church and in Big Rapids, right by the high school not far
from the college, and he's been there 12 years.
The church has incredibly grown and we're now in a building
program. Unbelievable.
The cost of buildings, $12 million to build a a new
sanctuary. That'll sit more because we're
packed out three services this Sunday morning.
I am one of five pastors and yes, my son's name is Ross.
So Ross is my boss and I find it very easy to serve him.
And he's also now the head of our whole church organization.
It was called Res Life. Now it's called Link.
And that just happened this week.
He's been on the board for five years.
And it's just amazing to Cheryl and I what God has done in his
life. So but we are all we're blessed
to be here and we send you high regards from our organization
today. Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you so much for this church.
Father, I, I thank you for North life and all that it means to
showing me, but all that it means to all these lovely
people, those who are listening online.
Lord, and we thank you for the effect this church is having in
northern Michigan, and we thank you for its future.
What a great church. Lord, we pray that you be
present because you were there in the past, You're there here
now. And Lord, we ask that you be
here in the future. And most of all, Lord, we pray
for your tangible presence in the word of God this morning.
And everybody said the verse that I chose today, actually,
this is kind of fun. If you were here when the church
began like Mike Minke's was that this was my second sermon that I
gave when we first met together. And when we first met together,
if you didn't know this, we did not have a church building, but
the OT Siegel Club opened its doors to us and we met in the
banquet room, the big room. And I'm sure we were the only
church in the United States where the world class golf
course and they had a champagne brunch every lunch.
I don't know if anybody drank champagne, but it was a great
lunch. And, and, and in the winter we
were blessed and amazed that the snow skiing was there so you
could even watch the skiers go down the hill.
And it was during the Vancouver Olympics, remember Mike, in that
we had the in Gaylord, we had only one of two world class half
pipes in the Americas. And so the Olympic, the Olympic
countries were training here in Gaylord, MI, So we got to watch
them do all the crazy stunts and some of them attended our our
church gathering and the banquet hall.
It was an amazing time. And I had free golf for a year
and a half. It was great.
And we had a swimming pool too. It was a great beginning that we
had back then. And this was the beginning of
the second message. So I'm going to read it to you.
I'm reading now the New international version.
It's verse 19, it says consequently you are no longer
foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's
people and also members of his household.
Everyone say household. It's an interesting word,
household, because back in those days in the city of Ephesus, but
throughout Rome, a household could mean that there was a lot
of people in that house that it held the often there'd be an
entourage of, of slaves and bond slaves and servants and and
often households could number into the hundreds.
And there were people when you owed a dead back in Rome that
you went to work for somebody and you became a bond slave and
it was an honored position. But that so your master was your
employer and you usually live there.
And so so they were all part of a household and it would change
at different times. So this is the term that Paul is
using that idea. Abraham had 400 people in his
household when when Paul would travel, who wrote this letter to
this early church that it is said he would travel with 100 to
400 people and that was his household.
So, so keep that in mind as you as we read this.
So we are fellow citizens with God's people, but also were
members of his household. It's really talking about the
local church and in him you 2 are being built together to
become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.
Wow. Back when we wrote this, we were
homeless. I mean, we met at the at Siegel
Club. We would, we would take chairs
from downstairs, bring them upstairs, set them up.
Often the carpet was stained from the the parties the night
before and we set up this rinky dinky sound system and I even
learned to play the bass guitar and I was really not a good
guitarist, but I learned to do that to help out.
And, and we had a ball with our, our beginning days of this
church. And then we went to the Eagles
Hall, which was fun because while I was preaching, there's a
Budweiser sign on the back of the wall.
It's kind of fun, but we had we had 19 different I think it was
19 or 11. We had a bunch of people because
they had the bar in the back came out and at times and got
saved and it was quite an experience.
And then we came here and and I wanted this new church North
life to be what God intended his house to be.
So I use this verse and having having lived here for so long
before that I what were we here for?
How many years? 3740 years, Yeah.
And that, that was kind of fun. Whenever I'd go to conferences
or, or, or go to on a vacation or whatever that, you know, you,
you'd end up being asked, where do you come from?
Well, I come from Gaylord MI And they'd say, where's that?
Where's Gaylord MI? I'd go like this right here, you
know, And it didn't work when I went on a missions trip to
Haiti. Didn't work at all.
They had no idea what a mitten was or what this was.
You know, that didn't work. But anyway, that that I would
talk about it and I could see it in their eyes.
Who would name a city Gaylord? And, and it must be in the
outermost ends of the earth. It certainly must be redneck
heaven. So, so I I didn't, I didn't
think so. Do you?
I don't think so. But then.
But anyways, so back then this is true.
I looked up the characteristics of what a redneck church was.
So I thought you might it might be fun if I share a couple of
the things I shared 16 years ago and we'll see if it fits.
OK, how about when the men grumble when you when I you tell
the story about Noah and the fact that he probably let
coyotes on the ark? You might be a redneck church.
Us hunters know we don't like coyotes.
Or how about if the preacher says I'd like to ask Bubba to
help take up the offering and five guys stand up?
I don't think that fits. How about if the the restaurant
room is an outhouse and it's outside and it's a 2 seater?
How about if opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as
an official church holiday? Now that one sticks here in
Gaylord, MI. It does.
In fact, I've shot 2 deer before the 1st service on Sunday
mornings. But there's a whole bunch of
them here. That's that's a pretty funny
stuff. But I like, I'll read one more
to you that I did back then and that prayers regarding the
weather are a standard part of every worship service now.
That's mostly true in Gaylord, MI.
And you've had quite a winner this year, haven't you?
But, you know, it wasn't important what we were at that
time or if we had a building, but it was important to me what
God wanted this house to be 16 years ago.
I wanted it to be a house where God's Spirit lived.
And if you attended back then, you know, I preached a lot of
sermons about the Holy Spirit. Part of that is I mentioned my
son Ross that here at the at Siegel Memorial Hospital, we had
an event early in our ministry where God put Cheryl and me to
the test, that at nine months old, he suffocated to death up
in up in Vanderbilt, not far from the Whippy Dip ice cream
shop. And yeah, he was dead for
approximately 30 minutes at nine months old.
And we began to pray over him and ask God to restore his life
and said, Lord, I know he's with you.
But Lord, we asked for him back and everything.
And right when the paramedics, medics walked and he took his
first breath and, and he's now the my pastor, Cheryl's my
pastor at Res life. And so we went on a, a quest of
understanding the Holy Spirit and we, we saw God affect so
many lives in this county and area through the Holy Spirit,
both with emotional, mental healing, physical healing, but
listening to the Holy Spirit as we, as we shared Christ with
people and words of knowledge for people to, to help them
along their life. And, and the Bible says right
here in Ephesians 219 that you'll become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit. You know, Scripture says that
when we come together, where two or three are gathered together,
that God is in the midst. Well, we have a lot more than
two or three here. Isn't that an awesome thought
that he's here and present today?
Is it an easy present just to listen?
Oh, he's present to do a lot more than that, isn't he?
He's, he's present to speak into your heart.
How many times have you, haven't you heard a message that Kurt
gave or somebody's given and, and all of a sudden you said
that's just for me? Well, you know what that was?
That was the Holy Spirit. Or how many times you came in,
ladies, after you were really mad at your husband on the way
to church. I'm just joking, but but you
started worshiping and praising the Lord and all of a sudden the
anger left you remembered how much you love your husband
there. There's there's then there's
just so many cool things that happen when the Spirit is
welcomed and, and deliverance and teaching us and the family,
family of believers and loving to be in this in this place.
And one of the things that I've watched as I've watched online
and kept abreast of what's going on is so many young families
have come here with children. How can you not love the little
guy that was up here in worship that led you in worship today?
That's just incredible and just great things have happened over
the 16 years here. You've allowed it to be a place
where God's throne can descend for God's Spirit to be be
present and affect your life situations.
And, and I I love the sermons that are have been given here
and the ones I've given and other special speakers.
They're all here to help you in life's situations.
You know, in Psalms 22 verse three, it says the Lord inhabits
the praises of his people and he certainly does as I heard your
excellent worship team today. It was awesome, wasn't it?
Even that new song I like get a load of that and I'm old.
It's great, it's great. Matthew 1820, Jesus said where
two or three are gathered together in His name, that He's
present. And so He is and has been that.
You know the 1st letter of John to the churches says that when
we're hanging out together in his name, he's present.
It's said that quite often in the New Testament in different
places, and it certainly is present here.
And then as the Scriptures have been shared and God's Word has
been shared with you, Paul wrote to Timothy.
He was a pastor in Ephesus. In the second letter he says in
chapter 3, verse 16 that all Scripture is God breathed.
So as you, as you've had Scripture shared and teaching
shared in midweek teachers and all this that you're getting the
breath of God through God's word upon you.
In fact, when when this church first began that that I was
seeking God in the church. And one of the verses that stood
out in Scripture to me that I hardly knew I'd read it maybe
once was Jeremiah 2911, which says I know the plans that I
have for you not to harm you, but to give you a hope and a
future. And that verse is as relevant
today as it was 16 years ago. And it's so exciting to know
that God's word is true. So when you come to this church,
you expect God to be here and, and you that have attended for a
while, you've you've enjoyed it, you've seen what's offered here
and the things that have happened and you expect that it,
it's the brand, isn't it? Now you know, when I'm done here
today, I'll probably go to through McDonald's and get a
flare fish sandwich and meal, large fried Diet Coke probably
will because I know what it's going to taste like.
I can taste it right now. I'm getting pretty hungry and I
know what it's like and I'm expecting of what it's going to
taste like. It better taste that way where
I'm sending it back. And and so we've come to expect
a supernatural family experience here of healing and deliverance,
release of the broken hearted. How many hearts have been healed
here? This has always been a church
where the broken hearted can come, where we've been here to
restore you and help you for the grieving.
We've lost some Saints. Some of the people that were
here 16 years ago are now with the Lord and in the hurting.
And but it's all in the elements of coming together in the
household, listening to messages and prayers that would encourage
us and help us and heal us. It reminds me of when Paul wrote
the letter to the church in class.
I again, one of the newer churches, by the way, this is a
pretty new church. So it's a teenager, 16 years
old. Do any of you have a 16 year old
teenager? Oh, good heavens.
They're a lot of fun. They're exciting.
I've got a, our oldest grandson is 15 going on 16.
Oh my gosh, what a riot that kid is as he's growing up and now
he's becoming a man. And that's like what this church
is and it's in a great place right now.
And so we in Paul's letter to the Church of Class I, it was a
new church. It might have been 16 years old.
We really don't know. But he said this in Colossians
316. This is what it says.
Let the Word of Christ, God's Word right here, the Scriptures
dwelling you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms, in hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
So I was just tickled today when I heard the worship and I've
never heard your the worship leader.
That was the first time I've heard him and several of the
singers. I thought, man, these people
have good music and he just tickled me.
It was great. The Bible says it should be a
pillar and foundation of life, the household, and it sure seems
like it is. I, I, I, I had to laugh this
morning when Gerald and I came in because being at my age and
being in ministry so long, I'm, I'm like a health inspector in a
restaurant. I am.
I'm like the guy in Bar Rescue, you know, I I'm coming and
checking everything out, seeing what's dirty, the white gloves
treatment, you know, and everything.
And, and what I saw was really good here.
Lovely people, great greeters. Thank you for the chocolate
doughnuts. They're still here.
People are just great and they're serving.
I wow, where'd you get this? Children and youth.
Pastor and wife. I would have given anything to
have people like that when I was here.
And look what what God's brought you this funny.
I talked to them about that after the first service and he
said we were here one Sunday when you left and look what
God's done. Look, look what a great
children's program you've got. What's going on there?
So there's been so many great things that have happened here.
By the way, I really like your board of directors.
We had a great board of directors.
But wow, this is a great board of directors I met.
I've met with them before and, and see all of them except one
came to this church after it started.
And so this church gave birth to their involvement in their this
church and in this church is your child Board of director
members. And, and it's great.
It's great. And they're a great board.
I'm so pleased. I can say that coming in.
You've passed, you've passed a health test.
It's a you got a good product. Yeah.
It's a good, good spiritual food in this house and it's great.
Look how many new people you know, it's summer.
You know, what used to frustrate me and Gaylord is every summer,
everybody's either on a golf course or a beach.
And and so summers began, hasn't it?
And that's part of part of why you moved up here was to enjoy
all those wonderful things. And it again, there's just great
things going on. Been a some of you have been
adopted into this family and it is the household of faith and
that's exciting. And so I've watched online and
with the different reports how this household has grown.
And you know, there's so many more chapters in the life of, of
this church and of this church family.
And it's going to be exciting to see what what God is going to do
in the future. But back in the days we, we saw
that through God's word that this house is referred to as
God's house, the family, the meeting place and God's design
for the family of God. You and I was to have a
wonderful, warming, loving, powerful experience of doing
life together. Remember, that was our motto,
doing life together. And and that is what this church
has become. I watch it all the time on
Facebook and YouTube and I see all the awesome things you're
you're doing and the young families that have joined the
church, you know, great households have something
special. And in a church, the great
things are the common ethics and beliefs from the word of God,
the fact that they love to be together and hang out together.
And there's a lot of love in this place.
I can tell it's God's house. And where where it's God's
house, there is love because he is love.
And when God calls an unbeliever to him, his desire is that they
become part of the family. And I know you welcome them all
in, don't you? And many of you were not
believers when you came. And God somehow got you here,
called you here, and you accepted Jesus Christ, and now
here you are. You're adopted in to the cause
of Christ. What a wonderful place, great
place, God. God is so blessed by it.
So I want you to see yourself from God's point of view as a
church. God is a great future for this
family. And just as you go through
stages of life, infancy, which we were boy back in those days,
childhood which we were now here you are a 16 year old teenager
as a church, you're going to be in a young adult and then this
church is going to go into an adulthood and you're going to
have those other stages of life as a household.
And, and what is this church going to be like in 25 years or
50 years once I'm I'm long gone. Well, I hope it still has the
same spirit, the same attitude. You know, Paul wrote this in the
1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 3.
And I want to read this to you, verse 6 through 9.
This is what he says to the new church in Corinth.
I don't know how old it is, but it's a few years old.
It might have been 16, I don't know.
He said, I planted the seed. Well, I guess that'd be me.
I planted the seed. I, I started the church with,
with a few others And, and that's what we did.
Cheryl and I did this. And then then it says Apollos
watered it. Will that be Curt Jace?
And they watered it. They came in eight years ago and
we took them in and became my assistant and bought it.
We have a wild time during COVID.
We remember we had the show up here.
We we had 15102 thousand people watching us all the time.
It was really cool. And then but God has been making
it grow. So neither the one who plants
nor the one who waters is anything but.
Only God who makes things grow, the one who plants and the one
who waters, have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded
according to their own labor, for we are coworkers and God's
service. You are God's field.
You are God's building. I planted the seed, Apollos
watered it, or Kurt watered it, but God has been making it grow.
You know, there's going to be somebody down the way that is
going to be cultivating the field.
You know there's going to be somebody down the way that's
going to be fertilizing the field.
And it's just the way a church goes.
And so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is
anything but only God who makes things grow.
Verse 8, The one who plants and the one who waters have one
purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own
labor. For we are God's coworkers and
God's service. You are God's field in God's
building. So I was thinking about this.
What's the example? Greatest example in the Bible of
this? No question about it, I've got
it. Greatest example was when God
called Abraham in Genesis 15 and he said, I want to make you my
family Abraham. In fact, I'm going to change
your name to Abraham. I'm going to put my name right
in the middle of your name. Did you know that?
That's why I went from Abraham to Abraham.
Jah was in the middle of the name.
That's the name of God. In fact, he said Sarah, you're
going to be named Sarah, the name of God.
And, and so then, so God used Abraham for many years and then
the next in line was Isaac, his son.
And then the next in line was Jacob, and then he had the 12
sons. And, and then God used Joseph to
protect the family of God in slavery and before slavery in
Egypt. And then then after slavery, God
raised up Moses the deliverer. And boy, Moses took them and
they had the wilderness experience.
And then God raised up Joshua. And then there was Samuel and
Elijah and Elisha and David and many, many more.
That's what happens in the life of the family of God.
And that's OK. I noticed there's there's this
whole new board of directors and, and they're just lovely.
And I met with them and what they're doing, wow, what God has
done, God's doing a great thing. And there'll be many more
chapters of life in this family, God's first family known as
North Church. It will be.
And if you're willing, God's got a great future and he's got an
amazing plan for this church family.
And Cheryl and I cannot wait to see what the next chapter
brings. Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you so much for this church.
We thank you for the awesome 16 years.
We thank you for the volunteers and the laborers that that in
your vineyard, the under shepherds that have worked
within and taught classes and helped lead and guide in this
church. Father, we thank you for the
worship team and the children workers and the youth workers
and the, and the food workers and just so much that's going on
here. The, the women's group that
meets and the men's group that meets and all the people that
prepare the food. What a great family it is.
And Father, it is my desire and shows my desire and hope that
this church would grow and blossom and bear fruit and it
would become even more Lord, the church that you've called it to
be. Help it to grow as you promised
Abraham that they'd be as the sands of the seashore, that this
church would grow and blossom and develop.
We ask it Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.